KARACHI: Although the Election Commission of Pakistan has announced delimitation of 11 national and provincial assembly constituencies in Karachi, the criterion set for carrying out this exercise remains shrouded in mystery.

Sindh Election Commissioner Mehboob Anwar shot down a question when this reporter asked him on what grounds the ECP had selected only 11 constituencies of total 62 seats of national and provincial assemblies in Karachi. “I cannot tell you the criterion (for the delimitation), but we have done this after checking everything,” he said.

On Feb 28, the Supreme Court, hearing the Karachi law and order suo motu implementation case, had rejected a request by the ECP for deferring the process of delimitation in Karachi and ruled that the ECP was constitutionally empowered to modify, alter and redraw boundaries of constituencies.

Karachi has 20 NA and 42 PA seats. The ECP, however, issued a notification on March 22 announcing delimitation of three NA constituencies (NA-239, NA-250 and NA-254) and eight provincial assembly (PA) constituencies (PS-89, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118 and PS-124) in Karachi.

The delimitation was notified without consulting any political party or stakeholder.

Mr Anwar, who was on the committee that had finalised recommendations on the delimitation, said the delimitation was carried out under Section 10-A of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 1974, and under this section it was not necessary for the ECP to consult any political party or group.

Section 10-A empowers the ECP to make amendments, alterations or modifications in the final list of constituencies as it deems necessary.

None of the major political parties — the PPP, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the Awami National Party (ANP) — were aware of the criterion under which the ECP had carried out the delimitation and chosen the 11 constituencies for the exercise.

All the parties have expressed reservations over the commission’s decision.

Senior PPP leader Taj Hyder told Dawn that his party had submitted proposals for a province-wide delimitation and asked the ECP to invite objections over the delimitation and give at least 15 days to each district.

He expressed his ignorance of the criterion for the Karachi-specific delimitations and said that administrative boundaries should be respected. “They (ECP) are violating the constitution,” he said.

The MQM was the first to criticise  the ECP move. It called the exercise unconstitutional and illegal, held demonstrations and demanded withdrawal of the notification.

MQM leader Faisal Subzwari said that his party had asked the ECP officials why they had selected these constituencies for delimitation but they failed to give a satisfactory reply. “We conveyed our reservations and they told us the delimitation was carried out under section 10-A of the Delimitation Act.”

He said the ECP officials were told that the said section had been enforced for the first time since its insertion in the law by the then military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq in 1984. Upon which, they said the commission had done so in compliance with the Supreme Court directives, he added.

Muhammad Hussain Mehenti of the JI said the ECP had picked the 11 constituencies for delimitation only to hoodwink the apex court. “They (ECP) did it without seeking public opinion and taking into consideration proposals submitted by us and other parties. We have rejected this exercise, which has been carried out in the constituencies where presence of the MQM is minimal,” he said.

ANP’s Bashir Jan said that his party leaders did not receive any reply when they contacted ECP officials in Islamabad and asked them what criterion they had set for delimitation in the 11 constituencies. “They replied ‘we will let you know after contacting our Karachi office’ but so far they have not told us anything,” he said. He said that it was in fact re-demarcation not delimitation, which had been carried out without taking into account any of the proposals submitted by the ANP.

In October, 2011, while announcing judgment in its Karachi law and order suo motu proceedings, a five-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry ruled: “Further observe that to avoid political polarisation and break the cycle of ethnic strife and turf war, boundaries of administrative units like police stations, revenue estates, etc., ought to be altered so that the members of different communities may live together in peace and harmony, instead of allowing various groups to claim that particular areas belong to them and declaring certain areas as ‘no go areas’ under their fearful influence.

“Subsequently thereto, on similar considerations, in view of relevant laws, delimitation of different constituencies has also to be undertaken with the same object and purpose, particularly to make Karachi, which is hub of economic and commercial activities and also the face of the country, a peaceful city in near future. The Election Commission of Pakistan may also initiate the process on its own in this regard,” it said.